Saturday, July 28, 2012

Recently I have had a conflict with my direct
supervisor.It had appeared to me that
she negative about the center and the people who work in it.This is the first year that the center has
been shut down in the summer. It is usually a year-round program.She demanded that staff remove everything
personal from the building because while they were laid-off for the summer, she
planned to go through the rooms and strip and throw away all of the things she
did not want in the rooms.The teachers
were very upset; many of them have worked in their rooms for many years.As the new supervisor, she has told me to
start throwing things away.I have only
worked in this center for a month and that time has been without staff and
children, so I have no idea what things the teachers use all the time and what
can be thrown out.Anytime I ask my
supervisor she says if it’s dirty or doesn’t look nice get rid of it.

I have two conflicts in this story. The first is with my
direct supervisor and trying to make her understand my position of being new to
the program and wanting to enter into this job as a supportive asset and not
someone who threw all their stuff away.The second is enforcing the demands of my supervisor, (and there are
many of them) on the teachers and staff that I work with.

Things I have learned so far from this class that will help
me include.

1.Trying to actively listen and understand my
supervisors reasons

2.Respectfully explaining how I feel about her
requests

3.Trying to discover a way we can make the center
look clean and professional without throwing away too many of the teachers
favorite things.

When I am trying to work with staff to
understand some of the new rules that have been imposed, I might:

1.Help them understand the reasons behind the
rules

2.Help them negotiate compromises with the supervisor
when some of the rules are too difficult to follow in an active preschool
classroom.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

I was very
interested in the communication surveys this week; It was interesting to see
where I rated on the scales. What surprised me most was that the people I had
complete the surveys saw me very much as I saw myself.

In Verbal aggressiveness
I was consistently ranked in the moderate category.I think that is accurate.I will defend a point I am trying to make,
but I try to be respectful of others and when theconflict reaches a point of impact, I try to
find a way to end it with both parties feeling ok about it.

In
Communication Anxiety I was ranked in the mild category, Again I think this is
accurate, I do not go out of my way to seek public speaking opportunities, but
I will speak to large or small groups as required.

Something
that did surprise me was that I was ranked in the people-oriented group, even
by myself.In reading the descriptions
of the groups, I thought I would fall in the content or action group, as I am a
very direct and to the point person. Or so I thought.

It was
interesting to find that my perceptions of myself were very similar.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Do you find yourself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures?

Because of this class, I have been more mindful of how I am communicating recently. Last week I was in the mall having a pedicure. The man giving me the pedicure was Asian although at first I didn't know exactly where he was from. His English was heavily accented and I found myself leaning in closer and listening more carefully to his words, trying to understand his meanings. I also noticed that I was very aware of his non verbal cues. There was a TV playing off to the side and the show International House Hunters was on. When the show began talking about houses in Vietnam his face lit up and he said something the the woman next to him in their home language. I asked him if he was from Vietnam. He said yes he was and spent the rest of the time telling me about his home country and how much he missed it. It was an interesting conversation and one I would not have had id I was not watching his non verbal cues.

If yes, in what ways do you communicate differently

I think when it comes to language barriers, I listen more closely and watch for non-verbal cues to help understand the conversation. When speaking with someone whose language is the same but cultural views are different, I am more mindful of the content of speech. I would never want to intentionally insult someone of hurt their feelings or discount their beliefs. In that I sometimes keep my own opinions and beliefs out of the conversation, depending on the relationship I have with the person.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

What do you think the characters’ relationships are based on the
ways in which they are communicating?

I watched a new show called Longmire.It was a western/cop show/ drama.I thought that the older sheriff was very
commanding of the other officers.His
facial expressions were very stoic and he did not smile very often.I thought there was a romantic interest
between the sheriff and the one female officer.The episode I watched showed scenes where the sheriff was interviewing
young children. When he talked to them his face changed and his body language
was more open and concerned.In one
scene he was drinking in a bar with Lou Diamond Phillips, who plays a
bartender. It appeared that there was a history between the two men, I couldn’t
tell if they were friends but they were much more comfortable with each other
that the sheriff appeared with other characters.

What are they feeling and expressing based on the nonverbal
behavior you are observing?

The main sheriff appears angry or disgruntled about his
job.He appears to e uncomfortable with
the other younger people in the office.The one female officer is very flirty, playing with her long hair and
resting her hand on the sheriff’s shoulder or arm as they talk.When the sheriff and the bar tender talk, the
bartender appears concerned and angry about something and the sheriff appears
upset and confused.

What assumptions did you make about the characters and plot based
on the ways in which you interpreted the communication you observed?

I assumed the sheriff was unhappy in his job. That he did
not really like the people he worked with.I felt that there was a friendship or at least history between the
sheriff and the bartender based on their comfort level with each other.I thought that the female sheriff had a
romantic interest in the sheriff.

Would your assumptions have been more correct if you had been
watching a show you know well?

If I had seen
this show before I might have had context for the relationships between the
people.When I watched it with the sound
on, I realized that one of the deputies was running against the sheriff in an
election and that is why there is so much tension in their body language.I was correct about the relationship between the
sheriff and the bartender, there were friends but found themselves on opposite
sides of the case they were trying to solve.